Tim Burton can be a polarizing director. Many people appreciate his unique visual style and storytelling, while others don’t care for it. Tim Burton’s love of B-movie monster movies is well documented, and he intended to bring that B-movie love to the classic Planet of the Apes. Some make the movie out to be worse than it was because of these elements. This is unfair because the movie has many strengths and positive elements. Here are some reasons why Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes wasn’t as bad as you remember.
The Ending Was Not That Bad
20th Century Fox
The first thing often brought up in Burton’s Planet of the Apes is its somewhat confusing ending. The ending is confusing because many of the plot elements are implied instead of outright stated, so a first-time viewer may be unable to follow. However, on subsequent watches, it is clear that Leo time travels back to his time in the 2020s after the crash landing on Ashlar in the 51st century.
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As a twist ending, it was a clever nod to the original ending of the Planet of the Apes when it is revealed the planet was actually Earth in the future. Still, many people associate the movie with the statue of an ape version of Abraham Lincoln at the end. It is admittedly cheesy, but not that bad, considering the whole movie has been building toward it. The ending was actually inspired by the actual Planet of the Apes Novel, where a similar thing happens. The original Planet of the Apes adaption from 1968 deviated from the original story’s ending.
One important thing to note is that Tim Burton came onto the project later after another director left and production had already started. In his book Burton on Burton, he says that he probably would have made an entirely different film if he had been allowed to start from scratch. Many people consider this film to be the turning point in Tim Burton’s career when he started producing less-than-stellar movies. Still, they also forget that Burton had much less control over the beginning phases of the film’s production.
It Has Great Visuals That Still Hold Up
If there is one thing you cannot fault Tim Burton for in his career, it is his creativity. He is an expert at creating surreal visuals and interesting shot compositions, which is why he was picked to direct Alice in Wonderland. The visual presentation in Planet of the Apes is well done. It has quality cinematography and knows when to use bright colors versus muted colors. The movie also has many instances of visual flair, like when the camera rotates to capture playful rose petals. You also get to see impressive shots of apes forming huge army formations. Burton also adds many visual allusions to the original film, like the Statue of Liberty’s crown.
Practical Effects Are Favored Over CGI
Another positive aspect of the film is that it goes to great lengths to make use of practical effects when possible. This is exemplified in the high-quality and realistic prosthetics that the actors wear to portray the apes. These prosthetics were so realistic that when Michael Clarke Duncan was at the hospital after an injury, the staff thought at first glance that he was a gorilla in a wheelchair. Michael Clarke Duncan was 6ft, 5in, and didn’t have time to take off his gorilla makeup, so the understanding was understandable. The film was made in 2001, which was one of the turning point eras in CGI, with films like The Matrix making waves with their CGI visual effects.
There Are Many Great Performances
Burton’s Planet of the Films sees many actors deliver solid performances. The considerable prosthetics make it harder for the actors to deliver a good performance, which makes the great performances on screen even more impressive. Rich Baker, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Tim Roth all deliver satisfying performances while under heavy prosthetic layers that make them almost unrecognizable. Mark Wahlberg as Leo delivers an excellent lead performance. He takes the role seriously and is the anchor that keeps the film grounded enough in the SciFi/fantasy elements.
It Has Its Own Take on the Classic Story
Rather than a standard reboot or re-imagining that follows the formula, Burton’s Planet of the Apes does its own thing while still nodding to the original storyline and visuals. It makes full use of the conveniences of modern technology and visual storytelling to include themes that make it very distinct from the original. While the original focused on the theme of man being a destructive species, Burton’s take is that the Ape’s society would have developed the same way. There are allusions to the civil rights movement and comparisons to the struggle for equal rights that only a modern lens could investigate.
